Review for The Wake

This book is immersive - against expectations, given the difficult language, and the grumpy, self-important protagonist. Paul Kingsnorth has managed to capture the essence of life at the juncture of the Norman invasion, and the beauty and isolation of the fenny countryside; and sympathy grows with old Buckmaster. The language seems to illuminate the story, rather than obscure it, and I spent much time reading passages aloud, for the beauty of the rhythms. Definitely a book I shall return to; much to be discovered in it still.